1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in free piston, internal combustion engines, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved free piston diesel engine having a novel combustion chamber design and cam drive arrangement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The construction and use of free piston engines is well known in the prior art. The basic conceptual design of such engines is disclosed in many patent references, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,599 which issued to E. Alllais on Nov. 6, 1984, U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,485 which issued to A. Morioux et al on Mar. 6, 1979, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,214,085 which issued to H. Boldt on Oct. 26, 1965. These three patent references are all illustrative of the free piston design concept but are not particularly specific as to the drive means for an associated power output shaft.
With respect to power output arrangements associated with such free piston engines, it appears that rack and pinion drives have long represented the preferred approach in the prior art. In this respect, reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,610,214 and 3,853,100, both of which issued to A. Braun on Oct. 5, 1971 and Dec. 10, 1974, respectively. Both of these patents disclose double acting free piston engines which rely upon the aforementioned rack and pinion drives to obtain a power output.
Inasmuch as free piston engines apparently are not presently available in a commercial market, it appears that there exists a continuing need for improvements thereto which could make them more efficient,, inexpensive and thus commercially feasible. In this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.